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The average number of Natives and Half-castes educated in the Waikato schools during the 12 niouths which preceded my inspection was as follows, viz.— Natives. Half-castes. Total. Taupiri ...... 57 1 ...... 58 Otawao 34 17 51 Kohonga 77 8 85 168 26 194 And if the necessary funds were available I believe each of these schools might be increased to 100 pupils; but to cover all expenses attending the board, clothing, education &c, of these 194 pupils there appeared to have been received by them from Government only the following sums, viz.— By Taupiri £342 ) " Otawao 200 \ From Ist April 1856, to Ist April, 1857. " Kohunga 638) Tt 1 £1 180 1 Including an extra grant of £150 to Kohonga ' \ for removal. making an average for the Waikato schools of £6 2s. per pupil. The average numbers of St. Stephen's School have been:— Natives. Half-castes. Total. 16 4 20 and the amount received from Government £307 10s., making an average of £15 7s. per pupil. The average numbers of St. Mary's Boys' School :— Natives. Half-castes. White Orphans. Total. 7 4 2 13 St. Ann's Girls' School:-14 2 3 19 21 6 5 32 and the amount received from Government £1,167; making an average for the whole number of 32 pupils of over £36 per pupil, or if the 5 White Orphans be deducted of upwards of £43 per pupil. The average numbers of the Three Kings School have been 81; and the amount received from Government £1060, making an average of £13 Is. per pupil. It would thus appear that those schools which educate the greatest number receive the smallest amount per scholar, those which have had an average of 194 having received less than half the amount of that which had 81, and less than one-seventh of those which had but 27. As a necessary consequence of this arrangement it will be seen by the annexed Reports that the schools whose numbers most required paid Teachers could offer little or nothing beyond the services of the Missionaries and their wives, which, however cherfuliy given, were afforded at the expense of the health and almost of the lives of the givers, who evidently cannot long sustain the strain which is now exhausting their energies; whilst those schools which together muster but 27 Native pupils, pay £415 for teaching them, viz., £250 per annum to the Director, Teacher, and Guardian of the Boys ; and £165 to the Directress, Teacher, and Guardian of the Girls; and as the same disparity exists as regards food, clothing, buildings, medical attendance &c, it follows that a strong inducement is held out by the present mode of distributing the Funds appropriated to Native education to diminish the number of pupils, a*id so limit the usefulness of the Institutions which it intended to increase. To correct this evil I beg to suggest that a certain sum per pupil should be paid by Government for the average number which could be shewn to the satisfaction of a Board of Education to have been educated, boarded, and clothed for the preceding year. This sum need not, I think, exceed £10 per pupil, and the limit within which it should be granted to any Institution not to exceed 100 pupils, (beyond which I do not think it could be effectually superintended) ; and this arrangement would not cost the Government for the present number under instruction much more than it now pays, the advantage gained being the [correction of the present anomalous system, by which one school receives 6/., whilst another receives 43Z. per pupil. It further appears to me that great improvement might be made in the management of the .School Estates, which are in all cases considerable, and might be made valuable if Funds were provided for working them, and means devised for doing so advantageously. They consist of large tracts of land of many hundred acres extent, and upon which more or less improvements have been made, but these improvements do not seem to have been always wisely conceived or well carried out. In one case a fine building has been erected at immense expense, in a situation afterwards found so unsuitable as to be necessarily abandoned for school purposes before completion ; in another, land has been fenced and cultivated only to find that it would not pay for cultivation; or a school has been established in an otherwise unfavourable position because it had a large Native population, but which population has migrated to another locality, and so left the School in its disadvantageous position; whilst in another case the removal of a School and Station has been been found so expensive, and the delay and difficulty of re-establishing it upon a comfortable footing so great, as to shew the necessity of most carefully arranged plans and anxious consideration for the means of carrying them out before entering upon so great an undertaking. To insure as far as possible a proper and wise application of the funds provided by Government for Native edncation, I would suggest that instead of the several Boards which now exist, one central